Shortly thereafter he became a regular on the newly created Louisiana Hayride radio program based in Shreveport, Louisiana. The first celebration, in 1954, featured the unveiling of a monument at the Cramton Bowl that was later placed at the gravesite of Williams. Born in Banks, Alabama, in 1923, Audrey Mae Sheppard met her future husband, Hank, in high school. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The material was restored and remastered by Michael Graves and released by Omnivore Recordings. His mother was Audrey, and his step mothers were Bobbie Jett, who had his stepsister, and Billie Gean who was a widow just months after she married Williams, Sr. (Williams para.14). After an autopsy, the cause of death was determined to be "insufficiency of the right ventricle of the heart.". His mother stated that she bought it with money from selling peanuts, but many other prominent residents of the town claimed to have been the one who purchased the guitar for him. [3] In October 1952, he married Billie Jean Jones. [103][104] Alabama governor Gordon Persons officially proclaimed September 21 "Hank Williams Day". Hank Williams in his coffin. [33] In 1943, Williams met Audrey Sheppard at a medicine show in Banks, Alabama. Lillie Stone, Audrey Williams, and Hank Williams, Jr., seated on a bed while looking through letters and cards received after the death of Hank Williams, Sr. Hank Williams, Jr., was only 3 years old when his father died ("Hank".Bio para.4). Hank Williams was just 29-years-old when he died, but had lived quite a life in his short years. Many of their replacements refused to play in the band due to Williams' worsening alcoholism. From The Montgomery Advertiser. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame in 1999. [46], In 1945, when he was back in Montgomery, Williams started to perform again for the WSFA radio station. The couple were married in 1944 at a Texaco Station in Andalusia, Alabama, by a justice of the peace. [7] Because of an ice storm in the Nashville area that day, Williams could not fly, so he hired a college student, Charles Carr, to drive him to the concerts. Probably taught his first chords by Payne, Williams began playing the guitar at age 8. [16], The circumstances of Williams's death are still controversial. In February 2005, the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling stating that Williams' heirsson, Hank Williams Jr, and daughter, Jett Williamshave the sole rights to sell his recordings made for a Nashville radio station in 1951. It could be argued, in fact, that his early death only enhanced his legend. Date Of Birth : It was at this time that Williams decided to change his name informally from Hiram to Hank. Less than 48 hours later, Hank Williams was dead. Hank Williams, Sr. was an American singer-songwriter and musician who had a net worth equal to $100 thousand at the time of his death after adjusting for inflation (approximately $10 thousand in 1953) Prior to that, duplicates were made and intended to be published by a third party. Williams, who wrote most of his songs himself, crafted direct, emotionally honest lyrics that had a poetic simplicity that spoke not only to fans of country and western music but to a much broader audience, as evidenced by the pop hit crooner Tony Bennett had with his cover of Cold, Cold Heart in 1951. Father and son rarely saw each other over the next decade, with Williams' mother, who ran rooming houses, moving the family to Greenville and later Montgomery, Alabama. The recordings, which Legacy Entertainment acquired in 1997, include live versions of Williams' hits and his cover version of other songs. Hank Williams' Daughter Didn't Know That He Was Her Father - Biography Audrey Williams - Wikipedia His son, Hank Williams, Jr., a successful country performer in his own right (like Williamss grandson, Hank Williams III), sang Williamss songs in the film biography Your Cheatin Heart (1964). [31], In July 1937, the Williams and McNeils opened a boarding house on South Perry Street in downtown Montgomery. The Opry eventually fired him, and in 1952, he and Sheppard divorced. A year after first meeting with Rose, Williams had his first hit, "Move It On Over." His life and music received a fresh look in 2019 with Ken Burns' 16-hour documentary, Country Music, which prominently featured the icon in an episode titled "The Hillbilly Shakespeare.". Entrance marker of the Oakwood Annex Cemetery in, Grave of Audrey (left) and Hank Williams (right) at Oakwood Annex Cemetery, Oklahoma investigation of Horace Marshall. The Journal that day reported WSFA received hundreds of calls and telegrams requesting the station play his songs. medically disqualified from military service, I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You), Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration, "Luke the Drifter and the Secrets of Country | ABCtales", "Cowtown Birthplace of Western Swing - Hank Williams", Escott, Colin, Merritt, George & MacEwen, William 2015, "Show 9 Tennessee Firebird: American country music before and after Elvis. Montgomery, Alabama - Family at Hank Williams memorial unveiling. Roy Acuff leads a host of country stars singing at the funeral of Hank Williams. He was one of the finest young men that we ever knew, Acuff said. "When I pulled it back up, I noticed that his hand was stiff and cold." Hank Williams dead: How old was Hank Williams when he died? [17] Author Colin Escott concluded in his book Hank Williams: The Biography that the cause of death was heart failure caused by the combination of alcohol, morphine and chloral hydrate.[18]. He also wrote a number of religious songs under the pseudonym Luke the Drifter. Long plagued by alcoholism, Williams fell ill at the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville on the last night of 1952. Jett, whose legal name is Cathy Deupree Adkinson, was raised by Williams' mother for two years until she died. Williams had an agreement giving his first wife half of the royalties, but allegedly there was no clarification that the deal was valid after his death. How old was Hank Williams Sr. when he died? - Answers . Hank Williams, byname of Hiram Williams, also called the Hillbilly Shakespeare, (born September 17, 1923, Georgiana, Alabama, U.S.died January 1, 1953, Oak Hill, West Virginia), American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who in the 1950s arguably became country musics first superstar. [52] Rose signed Williams to a six-song contract, and leveraged this deal to sign Williams with Sterling Records. PolyGram contended that Williams' contract with MGM Records, whose back catalogue they owned at the time, prior to current owner Universal Music's absorption of PolyGram the next year, gave them rights to release the radio recordings. [62] Although the real identity of Luke the Drifter was supposed to be anonymous, Williams often performed part of the material of the recordings on stage. In the years since his death, Williams' impact has only grown, with artists as varied as Perry Como, Dinah Washington, Norah Jones and Bob Dylan all covering his work. Hank Williams - Biography - IMDb Williams dropped out of school in October 1939 so that he and the Drifting Cowboys could work full-time. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hank-Williams. [112] He was ranked second in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003, behind only Johnny Cash who recorded the song "The Night Hank Williams Came To Town". During an initial hearing, Marshall insisted that he was a doctor, refusing to answer further statements. On New Year's Day in 1953 the heart of country music was broken; the Shakespeare of Country Music died in the backseat of a powder blue Cadillac in Oak Hill, West Virginia on his way to a booking in Canton, Ohio. [29] In 1937, Williams got into a fight with his physical education teacher about exercises the coach wanted him to do. (An audio recording of the funeral begins at the 7:30 mark of the video below. Hank Williams, byname of Hiram Williams, also called the Hillbilly Shakespeare, (born September 17, 1923, Georgiana, Alabama, U.S.died January 1, 1953, Oak Hill, West Virginia), American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who in the 1950s arguably became country music 's first superstar. Despite his relatively brief career, he is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century, especially in country music. Years of back pain, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse severely compromised Williams' health. He found hemorrhages in the heart and neck and pronounced the cause of death as "insufficiency of the right ventricle of the heart". The ceremony featured Ferlin Husky interpreting "I Saw the Light". Later, he started to consume painkillers, including morphine, and alcohol to ease the pain. Williams, Sheppard, and the Drifting Cowboys band in 1951 The American entry into World War II in 1941 marked the beginning of hard times for Williams. At 11:25 p.m., Hank Williams was arrested in Alexander City at the Russell Hotel for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Lyons recalled how Hank rose from being a shoeshine boy to star of the stage. "I went inside and an older guy, around 50, came back out with me, looked in the back seat, and said, 'I think you've got a problem'. After Hawkshaw Hawkins and other performers started singing Williams' song "I Saw the Light" as a tribute to him, the crowd realized that he was indeed dead and began to sing along. The station's owner called the local police chief. 'The Garden Spot Programs' 1950", "Hank Williams' 'The Garden Spot Programs' Named Best Historical Album at the 2015 Grammy Awards", "Tom Hiddleston played country icon Hank Williams in biopic", "File Action to Untangle Hank Williams Estate", "Mother's Best, Hank's Best: A Conversation With Jett Williams and the Students", "The Year's Top Country & Western Artists/The Year's Top Country & Western Records", "PBS 'Country Music' - Native stories of Hank Williams Sr., Loretta Lynn and Peter La Farge", "Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame", "Country Music by Ken Burns Episode 3 The Hillbilly Shakespeare", Listing of all Hank Williams's songs and alternatives, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hank_Williams&oldid=1142672396, Special Awards and Citation for his pivotal role in transforming country music, This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 19:34. That night, the singers body was taken back to Montgomery. After determining that Williams was dead, Carr asked for help from the owner of the station who notified the police. His funeral took place on January 4 at the Montgomery Auditorium,[23] with his coffin placed on the flower-covered stage. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Later on, Williams recorded "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It", one of the songs that Payne taught him. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Williams was scheduled to perform at the Municipal Auditorium in Charleston, West Virginia. The worker claimed that she sold Williams' notes to a representative of the Honky-Tonk Hall of Fame and the Rock-N-Roll Roadshow. Advertisement. [50], On September 14, 1946, Williams auditioned for Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, but was rejected. His breakthrough moment came in 1949 with the release of Lovesick Blues, an old show tune that Williams parlayed into a chart-topping hit, an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and international fame. In late 1951, he suffered a minor heart attack while visiting his sister in Florida. He died in the back seat of his Cadillac while being driven to a gig on New Year's Day 1953. Picking up the guitar for the first time at the age of eight, Williams was just 13 when he made his radio debut. Hank Williams - The Day the Music Died - FolkWorks Hank Williams is considered one of the most popular American country music singer/songwriters with songs like "Cold, Cold Heart," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Hey, Good Lookin'" and "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive." [13][14], As a child, Williams was nicknamed "Harm" by his family and "Herky" or "Skeets" by his friends. [83] After Williams' death, a judge ruled that the wedding was not legal because Jones' divorce had not become final until 11 days after she married Williams. His song "Your Cheatin' Heart" was written and recorded in September 1952, but released in late January 1953 after his death. The Georgiana native hired a college student, Charles Carr, to drive him to perform a concert planned in Canton, Ohio.